Silent Hill 4: The Roommates
by Ripperette
Summary: When Henry starts to have trouble keeping up the pay for his apartment on his own, he needs to find a roommate. Can you guess who comes back from the dead again? It's been a long time since I updated, but here's a poor attempt at a 7th chapter!
1. SWM Seeks Roommate

**Silent Hill 4: The Roommates**

**AN: **Okay…this is from the house I made on Sims 2, featuring a certain duo as room-mates. Any reviews will be very welcome, and I would really appreciate any input – if there's something you wanna see, or a situation you'd like me to put them in, then I would love to hear it!

**Part One: Single White Male Seeks Roommate**

Henry Townshend sighed, cursing the day he'd ever first fallen in love with a camera. While his photography was good, and had earned him a small-time job at the Ashfield Press, it wasn't the highest-paying job in the world, and despite everything that had happened…well…

To make a long story short, after a series of unfortunate events, Henry somewhat lacked the funds to move out of his Satan-infested apartment. Even worse, he was starting to get a bit short-handed when it came to the rent money. So, up on the main bulletin board in South Ashfield Apartments, and in a small article in the newspaper, Henry had posted a small advertisement:

SINGLE WHITE MALE SEEKS ROOMMATE  
South Ashfield Apartments - room 302 - 2 br, 1 bath 

Also included, of course, was his phone number, some directions to the place, and his name, naturally. It had been about three weeks, and he hadn't gotten anything…and rent collection was already a few weeks overdue. He had given Mr. Sunderland the money he could spare here and there, but as patient as the landlord had been, it was clear he was wearing thin. However, just when Henry felt that the remodeling of the odd chamber he found a certain cadaver in just a few long months ago was a wasted effort, there was a knock at the door.

Though he wasn't expecting anyone to be here to accept the position of co-bill-payer, Henry still had a quiet and introverted temperament. So, straightening out his shirt as per habit of his social insecurities, Henry was just reaching up to run one hand through his hair as he pulled the door open, not thinking to first check the eye-hole.

When he saw a soft pair of blue eyes with darkened edges set in a pale face, framed by shoulder-length blonde hair, Henry let out a gasp, slamming the door shut. His breathing increased, and immediately feeling idiotic, he rushed to open the door again and apologize to the person who just COULD NOT HAVE BEEN the person he'd just thought he'd seen. Keeping his eyes level with the floor, Henry scratched the back of his neck.

"Sorry, it's just that…well, I saw you, and you looked…"

Henry felt his spine go rigid, as he saw a pair of black boots with a pair of slacks overlapping them, and a long, navy jacket overlapping them. Swallowing, he slowly, painfully slowly, looked up.

"…an awful lot like someone that I…"

A cold feeling of dread grabbed hold on Henry's spine, as he saw, rather clearly, the person that he was afraid he'd see…

"…no…"

…Walter Sullivan.

**------------------------------**

Yes, I know, this is extremely short. Sort of just a teaser, if you will, as I am not totally sure how to write their conversation. I don't get a lot of time to write, so this will be a slow-growing work, as I have work, school and community service, so there could be loooong gaps in updates. See you next time, remember to R&R!


	2. The Arrival

**Silent Hill 4: The Roommates**

**AN:** Heh…thanks for the positive reviews! I'm not sure how the writing of this part will go, but hopefully, it will go…er…well!

**Part Two: The Arrival**

Walter was smiling so brightly, he was practically shining, were such a thing possible. He walked in, rather peacefully, although it still moved Henry to back away as quickly as he could. However, Walter stopped short, and just seemed to admire the door for a moment, as he did when he was a young boy. Almost nervously, he snaps out of it, looking to Henry, clearing his throat, as he started to reach into the pocket of his long, navy coat.

At first, Henry could only watch in fearful anticipation, finally looking away and shielding his face with his arms, as Walter began to pull his hand back out, pulling out whatever weapon he was here to finally do Henry in with. Yet, no mere weapon of physical-pain-inducing prowess could have done poor Henry's already much assaulted sanity in as much as the small newspaper clipping Walter lightly tapped into his raised, shielding elbow.

Slowly, Henry lowered his arms, looking back at Walter, who had one eyebrow arched somewhat, as he cleared his throat, waving the paper around once more. Henry stared at it dumbly, before he finally stammered out a statement that would have made Jasper Gein look well-spoken enough to deliver a Presidential speech (well-spoken enough compared to George W, anyway).

"Y-you…y-you gotta be…" Still trying to grasp what he was seeing, Henry shook his head. "You…you're joking me!" Seemingly saddened by this, Walter looked down at the floor, kicking the toe of one sneaker-clad foot into the carper as he spoke, almost bashful.

"Well…I, er…haven't quite found a job, yet, but I do need a place." Henry face-faulted a bit, wondering if Walter realized he was referring to the fact that he was the man who once tried to kill him to resurrect the very apartment they were in, not as to whether or not he was employed. Henry slapped one hand over his eyes, mumbling under his breath, as Walter brightened and quickly quipped, "And, I already know where everything is in here! And…and…" Frowning, as Henry turned around, continuing in his disturbingly calm-as-ever tone of voice, Walter's shoulders slumped. "…is this about the hole in the bathroom?"

Henry froze in his tracks. He wasn't a violent person under normal circumstance. Nor did he ever yell, and if he felt that he was shafted with the short end of the stick in a normal situation, he would normally just stay quiet and try to deal with it. Normally. This was definitely not normal. Swerving around, to stomp up to Walter, pointing one finger at him vindictively, Henry quickly started to, basically, lecture Walter. Even then, he could only manage to get angry enough to raise his voice slightly.

"No, it is NOT about the hole in the bathroom – believe it or not, I took care of that. This is about the killing 21 people and being insane thing!" Walter stood up a bit straighter, raising one finger, quickly correcting him, "Nineteen people!" Henry pointed at him even more vindictively, this time managing a subtle shout. "And you TRIED to kill Eileen and I!"

Walter slowly frowned, some creases appearing across his forehead. Slowly, he nodded, opening his mouth in an "Oh!" before chuckling.

"Oh, heh, I did, didn't I?"

Henry let out a groan, covering his ears with his hands as he collapsed backwards onto his reclining chair. As if he were keeping up the conversation to keep things from becoming awkward, Walter rocked back and forth from his toes to his heels, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Those, ah…those were some good times, eh?"

Slowly, Henry looked up at Walter, completely deadpan. Shakily standing, he walks over to his bookshelf, pulling out a phonebook, looking over his shoulder to catch a fleeting look at his still-standing wannabe roommate.

"I…am looking up a psychiatrist. Because there is no way this conversation is taking place – I'm clearly quite mad." Figuring he could be hospitable to a hallucination of Walter Sullivan that wasn't going to drink anything anyway, he gestured over to the refrigerator in his small kitchen. "There's some Pepsi and chocolate milk in there, if you like."

Blinking a couple of times, Walter suddenly broke out in a grin, as Henry muttered to himself about how insane this was.

"Does…that mean that I get to stay?"

"Sure," Henry said quickly as he thumbed through the phonebook. He didn't pay much attention as Walter suddenly skipped over to the fridge, taking out one of the bottles of NesQuick, before looking over his shoulder to Henry. "Do you want anything…?" Still not totally paying attention to the 'fake' Walter, Henry sat back down in his chair. "Sure…just grab me a Pepsi…"

Just as Henry was in the middle of considering calling a dream interpreter he'd found (curious as to what she'd say about those nightmares), he heard a clink in front of him. Looking up, he saw that the hallucination had placed a very real can of caffeine-free Pepsi down on the corner of his coffee-table closest to him. Looking over to the couch, Walter sat, drinking from the chocolate milk bottle, seeming to be waiting on anything Henry would say most intently.

Two thoughts randomly arose in Henry's mind. The first was that he severely doubted that this was a hallucination, and that some reincarnation of Walter Sullivan that wanted to room with him. The second thought was that this meant he would probably still need a psychiatrist, but in no way could afford the sort of help a man in his situation would really need, mentally. So, until he could further attempt to sort this…interesting situation out…Henry leaned forward and lifted the soda, and said the only thing he could think of.

"If you're gonna move in…you're gonna need to use a coaster."

**-------------------------------------------------**

Bleh. I didn't like writing this part…I wanna get to the easy parts, already! Waah! Comments, reviews, criticism, pointings out of mistakeseses, requests, questions, death-threats and free soda are welcome! Oh, and I realize that Walter is written a little out-of-character…First off, this is a different writer's interpretation of Walter, and a bit of a more…blue-collar resurrected psychopath. Erm…yeah…til next time!


	3. As the days go by

**Silent Hill 4: The Roommates**

**AN:** Once again, loverly input from you all. But, about the 'Friends' thing…I, no offense, loathe that show…and would only write a parody of it if 'parody' meant writing a bloodbath with Walter standing over all the dead 'friends' with a rusty, bloody chainsaw. That vent out of the way...the saga continues!

**Part Three: As the days go by…**

Henry swallowed nervously as he looked at the phone next to his bed. He had been able to repair it, and the wire was no longer cut, nor did strange, monstrous noises play on any of the lines. No, it wasn't any monstrous entity that may await him when he picked up the receiver (he knew the only major one was in his living room muttering about all the mean things that Joseph wrote about him in his diary, anyway). It was mostly just his shyness that made him anxious about this, as Henry was intending to call Eileen – he'd been getting to know her on a more normal basis, and was slowly working his way up around his introverted nature to ask her if she wanted to hang out at all. His place wasn't in much of a condition for them to be in, so he was hoping she wouldn't mind him coming over…and…well…if that neither of their places sounded any good, maybe he could take advantage of that, and ask her out to a movie…? Henry had to take that chance!

Unfortunately, just as he was about to pick up the phone and give her a call, there was a knock at the door, followed by a short ringing. Quickly recognizing it as his front door, Henry let out an imperceptible groan of frustration, as he slowly went about rising to his feet, shuffling to the door, turning the knob as he cast a forlorn look at his phone. Maybe I should just skip answering it, he thought, as he pulled open the door.

"I'll get it!" came a cheerful call from the living room. Immediately dreading over what one of the apartment tenants would do if they saw Walter – and Frank was the only person who ever visited – Henry quickly jogged out to the junction of his hallway and living room, just in time to bump into Walter, putting up both hands to stop him, nodding as he turned to the door, heaving a sigh. Leaning towards the peephole, sure enough, there was Mr. Sunderland, standing idly in the hall. Turning around to face Walter, Henry shifts nervously for a moment, before speaking in a low voice.

"Hey…uh, Walter…could you, um, go into your room for a second?" Though the former orphan seemed a bit confused as to why, and displeased, he nodded, before slowly backing into the hallway, slipping beyond Henry's view in a slow, deliberate step. Henry cringed – in a lot of ways, Walter could still act really creepy. Who was he kidding?! That man would always be creepy! Finally, Henry slouched a bit, opening the door, greeting Frank with a slight smile. The elderly man returned the gesture, nodding back, as he crossed his arms slightly, rubbing his elbow.

"Ah…hello, Henry, m'boy. I got your papers for the roommate filled out and all, it," Somewhat awkward in his disposition, as he always was, the superintendent handed Henry the small stack of paperwork, "It just needs your friends signature, and, it..uh…" Trailing off from that sentence, Frank stood up a bit more straight, as if trying to see behind Henry. "Is he available, at the moment, Henry? I'd sort of like to talk to him."

Shuffling even more awkwardly than Frank Sunderland's speaking, Henry's mouth went a little dry, and he stumbled for a little white lie to tell, before wetting his lips and hiding behind the door somewhat, as if to show him the front room was empty – but mostly to hide.

"Um, no…he…he works at night, to be honest. Sort of sleeps during the afternoon."

Though it displeased him greatly to be dishonest, Henry could at least tell himself that he was being half-honest – Walter had gone out to do a number of odd jobs for the past couple of nights. Henry questioned their nature as he was paid in 60 dollars cash for one of them, but was also told that he'd been getting part-time at a gas-station and graveyard shift as a guard – or, as Walter had referred to it, as a 'guardian.' At first, Henry assumed that meant a security guard gig, but now that he thought about it…he didn't like the sound of it at all. Not with all the knowledge he'd received about Walter Sullivan already. As for sleeping, however, Henry wasn't sure if what he saw Walter doing was sleeping – he was standing in an all-too familiar corner of the converted back room, arms bent in front of him, with one hand clutching his shoulder and the other hovering protectively in front of his coat's breast pocket. Henry decided to try and be nice, walked in with a plate with toast and cup of coffee on it (Henry wouldn't have considered it nice to give anybody anything else of his decidedly mediocre cooking), saw that, and promptly backed out of the room as if he saw Satan.

"Oh…well, morning, then." Frank mumbled under his breath, as he seemed to stare through the coffee table, to a specific spot.

"Huh?" Henry snapped out of his not-so-fond memory of Walter's deranged habits, as Frank continued to look at the floor.

"The morning," Frank said, gesturing somewhat meaninglessly, "I'll come by then, meet the guy. Must be a, a nice fellow, if he's friends with you." Henry forced a smile and nodded, before a motion in the hall caught his attention. Looking around the still-staring-at-the-floor Superintendent, Henry made a slight noise in the back of his throat as he noticed Walter peering out from around the wall. The psychopath noticed, and retreated back into the hall, just as Frank turned around to walk towards the door, shuffling his feet. He paused at the door to turn and offer Henry a nod before opening the door and slipping out.

"Walter, its okay, go ahead and come on out." Henry looked back towards the hallway, as Walter stepped out right on his cue, tapping his fingertips together, and occasionally picking at his dark blue jacket, which was lacking the bloody stains that had plagued, well…Walter as a whole, really, and not just his clothing. Which brought Henry to his next point...slipping his hands into his pockets, Henry cleared his throat, nodding towards the door.

"That was the Superintendent again…" Henry shrugged, before adding, meekly, "He checks in a lot since that…Sacraments thing, but anyway…" Henry frowned somewhat, as he crossed his arms, looking at Walter uncomfortably. "The dryer spewed blood all over the storage room, again. Was that you?" Walter seemed to grow confused at first, trying very hard to remember this incident. He narrowed his eyes, as his lips puckered somewhat pensively. Crossing his arms as well, standing across from Henry in a mirrored pose, save for the one hand that came up to scratch against the slight five-o'clock shadow on his jaw-line. He cleared his throat, before responding, "Maaaybe."

"Who else would it have been?" Henry said, somewhat quickly, but still peacefully enough that he didn't seem to be snapping at Walter, who blinked a couple of times, shrugging a bit, before turning to walk towards the kitchen, waving around one hand as he confessed, "I was just trying to get the stains out of my jacket." Finally having arrived at the refrigerator, Walter retrieves yet another one of the chocolate milks that he had been growing so fond of, beginning to shake it up as he turns around to face Henry. "And if that's a crime, well…I've done worse."

"How did getting stains out result in you spraying fresh blood all over the storage room?" Henry asked despairingly, as Walter blinked at him. There was a long, most uncomfortable pause, as Walter coughed a bit, before Henry blinked, raising both hands. "Wait, wait, I don't wanna know on second thought. Just…could you clean it up…?" Walter nodded, before setting the half-empty bottle of chocolate milk down on the counter and saluting somewhat.

"I'll get right to it!"

With that, Walter turned on his heel and marched into the storage room, shutting the door behind him. Henry simply collapsed down onto his armchair, wondering how long he could go without revealing Walter's existence to everyone, and risk getting himself or Walter in trouble…while it was true that he had tried to kill Henry, well…he was sort of helping him out now, wasn't he? The money the psycho's odd jobs had supplied them with had helped in preventing Frank from shutting his water off. But then again, it was still sort of on the fritz, anyway, what with that one pipe sitting in his living room chest, while it should be in the otherwise restored pipe-work. Henry was afraid of giving Walter any ideas to retry the 21 Heresies, but maybe he could open up the hole again and the two could figure out how to fix their shower.

After all…it was that or Henry may have to face that 'rotting corpse' smell…

* * *

**Afterthoughts:** Okay…this chapter turned out sort of empty…because I have severe writer's block, but it's been far too long since I updated, so I thought I'd treat you all to a little something, at least. Once again, thank you all for your nice comments! Any input at this time would be very appreciated, but this time, I actually have an idea for the next chapter. So, stay tuned for chapter four, when Henry and Walter get to try their hand at plumbing – occult style!


	4. Repairs

**Silent Hill 4: The Roommates**

**A/N: **Wow. I just whipped this one out in one sitting. It's…again…very short…but makes up for the long wait, I think. Erm…enjoy?

**Part Four: Repairs**

"Dun nuh nuh nuh-nuh-nuh…!"

That was followed by a short, but somehow important pause.

"Dun nuh nuh nuh-nuh-nuh…!"

Another pause, identical to the first, only this time, it gained a confused look from Henry.

"Dun nuh-nut-nuh nut -nuh nuh nuh nuh-nuh dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-duh…!"

"What are you singing?" Henry finally asked as he looked at Walter, who was immediately brought out of the concentrated stare he was giving the open 'bible' in his hands, and also cut off from his second round of the song. Henry frowned a bit, out of confusion, rolling up the sleeve on his ribbed, long-sleeve, cyan-colored shirt as it slowly unfurled down his arm again. Walter, who was a bit more sullen today, tapped his fingers on the leather-bound, mysteriously stained book.

"The Mario Brothers 'underground' song." He crinkled his nose, somewhat, as he looked at Henry, before adding, matter-of-factly, "I wasn't really singing it, those aren't words, and you can't quite hum it just right, so—"

"Yeah, I know, I've played it before." Henry nodded, cutting him off as he looked at the wall. Walter looked at it as well, before frowning back at the book, taking a deep breath before slowly closing his eyes. Henry wasn't expecting anything much, so he just turned towards the tool-box he had gotten out of the storage room (which was a lot less bloody, now, though it still smelt somewhat), and sat on the rim of his bathtub, looking at the broken pipe he held in his hand, making a face as he realized that it, too, still had blood on it from various monsters. Well…if it was going to be in the wall, then it wouldn't really matter, and Henry doubted that this thing would even register as anything on a blood test. He could just say it was rusty.

Henry cried out, slipping back into the tub, as suddenly, Walter began speaking in a dark, droning voice that seemed to carry several other voices within it, in a language that he was sure he had heard before in some long-forgotten nightmare. A black glow formed a sort of halo around Walter, warping and inverting colors beyond it. Though Henry desperately wanted to look away from this odd…thing…that was suddenly happening, he couldn't help but gape at it. The curse spread out from Walter's shadow as his chanting intensified, rusting the floor a dark, rich red, and slowly creeping up the walls, forming a slight circle around the malignant spot that all of Henry's trouble originally started at. With a sudden crunch, like a thousand bones breaking, it was there, again. The hole, that had originally swallowed Henry's life. For a moment, he stood outside of reality again, staring at it, just as confused and scared as he had been when it first showed up, but slowly, Henry Townshend remembered that Walter Sullivan, who still stood, though breathing a bit heavily, in the center of his bathroom, wasn't here to kill him.

He was just helping him fix the damned pipes.

Grunting a bit, slightly pained from the tumble into the tub, Henry once again rolled up his sleeve, looking at Walter warily – you never know what that whole demon-possession thing could take hold, like it had on Eileen a few times when they were following the Crimson Tome. He jumped as Walter calmly looked at him and blinked, before offering that familiar, sickly smile. Henry nodded, unnerved by the gaping crater that seemed to lead to nowhere that appeared in his bathroom thanks (or perhaps not so much) to Walter.

"Um, right! Great…" Henry paused, somewhat skeptical that he was about to say what he was, "Great job." Clearing his throat, Henry examined the pipe, before letting out an "ah-ha!" as he saw a large gap in the piping, where there were two fairly clean cuts in it. There was also what appeared to be still a copious amount of rust coating the pipes, which had browned with grime. Frowning in thought, an expression that made his lower lip stick out a bit, Henry maneuvered himself so he could slide into the opening, stopping short so he could look back at Walter, holding out the pipe.

"Hey, hold onto this, I'm gonna scoot in and, uh…see what I can do."

Nodding solemnly and taking the pipe, Walter leaned back against the wall, looking down at the floor. Every now and again, he shifted uncomfortably, as he was without his navy coat. He hated to part with it, but he had just gotten those stains off, and it seemed daft to go right on into repairing pipes with it on. So, he was simply in a long-sleeve, baggy black shirt, what appeared to be the same exact khaki-colored pants that he wore, and was bare-foot, numbered scared still on his feet. Examining the pipe, Walter frowned, realizing a fatal flaw in their plan to screw the pipe back in.

"Henry, it's cut."

The sudden call had startled the amateur repairman into sitting up and conking his head against the tight confines of the hole. Muttering, he finally leaned to the side so he could look at Walter, smudges already covering one of his cheeks, and now his forehead.

"Uh, so…? We can still get it in, right?"

"How?" Walter blinked, staring blankly at Henry as he did the same right back at him. Finally, the original stand-alone owner of the apartment shrugged, reaching out for the pipe.

"We'll just use duct tape, it fixes everything else, right? I mean, it's air-tight…hey, hand me the pipe so I can see if it fits in okay…" Nodding a quick thanks as the steel pipe was lightly pushed into his hand, Henry scooted in and held the pipe up, grinning as he saw that it was – almost – a perfect fit! It was nice to see something else starting to look alright around here to Henry, who, still faintly smiling, nodded out at Walter. "Hey, see if the water will run through here, okay?" Nodding, Walter leaned back a bit, starting to turn on the faucet for the shower nozzle.

It was at this precise moment that both men realized that accursed occult spells should never be used for repairing pipe-work – or, to Henry at least, for anything at all. Henry let out yet another shout, as a fairly warm fluid started to spray out of the pipes, at a much higher power than he had expected Walter to turn it on. Similarly, Walter hadn't even thought he turned it on that high, as the same fluid – which was visible as blood, to him – started spewing forth from the shower stall, the sink, and from within the hole. He winced a little, as the shower soaked him, before beginning to notice that Henry had been shouting repeatedly to "Turn off the water!" Blinking, and acting as calm as if it were simply water that was coming out of the various pipes in the bathroom, Walter quickly shut off the water. Letting out a sigh of relief, Henry scooted back into view, unknowingly bloodied, and started to wipe his eyes off.

"B'eehh…okay, so, I think we'll assume they're connected okay, so just go into the laundry room and grab the…"

Henry blinked his eyes open, staring at Walter, wide-eyed. He turned towards his mirror, urking as he saw that he, too, was turned quite a shade of crimson. And it was painfully obvious that it wasn't because he was blushing.

Eileen Galvin let out a shocked little shriek of her own, as she heard the sound of a man screaming from next door. Calmly putting the book she was in the middle of reading down, she frowned at the bedroom wall that she knew was closest to Henry's apartment, as she swore she heard a second scream follow his, also male, seemingly brought on by Henry's scream. Though she was always apprehensive when it came to matters of room 302, Eileen knew that Henry didn't have to help her when he did, and it was somewhat her duty to make sure and return the favor, and make sure he was okay…

** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Okay…to anyone who could tell what Walter was doing before Henry asked him, you, my friend, rock. You rock hard. And you rock all night long. And for those of you that don't get it, they're plumbing. And the Mario Bros. are plumbers. Weeeee! Now you feel dumb. Or maybe my delivery is bad. Who knows? Um, and yeah, I don't know much about plumbing or terms for what the shower faucety thing is, and it must show, so, my apologies. R&R!


	5. Why isn't mom moving?

**Silent Hill 4: The Roommates**

**A/N: **Bah, humbug. I have a cold, so, if there's anything wrong with this chapter, that's why. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Speaking of which – WOW! Five chapters?! This is one of the most motivated fan-fictions I've ever written. Most of my original works have been longer and what-not, but sheesh, five chapters is a milestone for me. Most of what I do is unfinished parodies and the like, but I would like to thank everyone for sticking with it.

Anyway, without further ado…enter Eileen Galvin!

Part 5: Why isn't mom moving...?!

* * *

Nervously making her way out the front door, Eileen looks over to the door a ways down the hall nervously. She hadn't gone past her own door, didn't really dare to, since the incident. But, she was positive that she had heard Henry scream, and she wasn't about to do nothing like when she used to hear Joseph scream, because now she knew that it wasn't because he was just some weirdo who couldn't take a horror movie – it meant that any moment, her life could make that horrible twist back into being a horror movie once again. Swallowing down her apprehension, Eileen made her way to the door of apartment number 302, the only thing to accompany her being the squeak of her white-and-blue Converse, not knowing the horror that awaited her in the halls, alone… 

Still spitting bits of the coppery fluid into the sink in his kitchen as he made an effort to scrub the blood off of his face, Henry tried to keep his stomach from churning. Yes, he had been attacked by ghosts. Yes, he had fought monsters that looked more like slabs of meat than actual living things on occasion. Yes, he had shoved an umbilical cord into an overgrown corpse that was going to turn into Satan. But there was still something really disgusting about being coated with blood. Henry had a sensitive stomach to begin with. It took him 3 bottles of Febreeze to finally clear out the smell Walter's corpse left in the back room enough for him to live with, even WITH the carpets redone!

Finally clearing enough of it off of his face, he groaned with disgust as he noted the condition of his once-light grey shirt. He'd already been forced into removing his socks and rolling up his pant-legs to about his knee to avoid tracking blood on the carpet, but he was now in the safety of his kitchen's tiled floor. Or so he thought.

A sudden, harsh knock sounded on his door, causing Henry's eyes to widen…

Eileen caught sight of Mike standing in front of the door into Henry's apartment, and went slightly rigid. What woman hadn't gossiped over what a sicko "that guy in 303" was in South Ashfield Heights? None the less, Eileen had dealt with worse at this point, and wouldn't hesitate to fetch her purse and beat him up with it. After all, it wasn't that hard. He was already knocking at the door, and occasionally peering into the peephole, but he did a small double-take at Eileen as she approached. Lucky for her, he seemed more concerned about his next-door neighbor, and most likely, would rather be lecherous towards Rachel.

"Did you hear it..?" Mike said, nodding his head to Henry's door, "The scream?" Eileen only nodded, looking at the door sullenly. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know what was going on, and she definitely didn't want to be standing next to Mike, right now.

"Yeah, I did…any answer from inside?" Eileen said quietly, stepping forward to look through the peephole as Mike had been doing. He grunted out something that sounded a bit like "nuh-uh," before he shrugged, turning to walk towards the central stairway.

"Anyway, I'm on my way out to work, do good luck with that door, I guess." Mike walked on, but Eileen not only felt, but looked back to see him staring at her. He snapped his head back forward to turn towards the door out, leaving Eileen to keep knocking at the door.

Henry blinked, as he peered out the peephole on his door, gasping as he saw Eileen staring back in at him. He was completely unsure of what to do – he was still bloody, so he couldn't really just open the door and say "Hi, what's up?", nor was he about to try and act like he wasn't there - everyone had probably heard him scream, and then heard the scream that caused Walter to scream. Then, everyone probably heard Walter scream, too. And Eileen would get worried that that meant that there were more Satanic ghosts and things in there…which there technically was, what with, well…you know who being here.

Speak of the Devil, Henry heard Walter wander out into the kitchen. He was about to scold him for most likely tracking blood into the rest of the house, but just sighed in aggravation to see that he had avoided the problem of trailing the crimson fluid all over by removing his pants and socks. His boxers were also slightly bloody, and his long-sleeve black shirt was still damp-looking, although he appeared to have wrung it out, as it didn't drip anything on the carpet. Walter tip-toed carefully onto the kitchen's tiled floor, before sighing, at nearly the same time as Henry, who had walked forward and held his breath in fear, making sure he never had to see another bloodstain again. Or at least not anytime soon.

"Hey, Walter," Henry started quietly, as he walked onto the tiled floor to try and sort the mess out with his roommate, whispering as he got closer, "Eileen's out there…" Walter brightened, his sudden outburst cutting Henry off.

"Mom…?"

Henry clamped a hand over Walter's mouth, shaking his head, before pinching the bridge of his nose with his hand as he brought it back. Remembering that they were supposed to be whispering, Walter bit his lower lip, raising his eyebrows as he listened to Henry continue.

"Eileen is out there, and she might be scared if she finds out you're here." Henry finished, unnerved by the pitiable sort of pout that the psychopath suddenly sports.

"Why doesn't mom wanna see me?"

Henry sighed, looking at Walter, dead-pan.

"She's _not _your mother, Walter."

"…is, _too_!"

"You never even completed the sacrifice for her, so she COULDN'T be."

"…well, she is."

"…is not."

"Is _too_."

"Is NOT!"

"Is _too _is _too _is _too _is _too_-"

"Not, not, not-not-notnotnotnot-"

"Tootootootootootoo-"

"…not, not, not, **NOT**!"

"**TOO**!"

Though Walter wasn't too concerned with the problem of Eileen, both of them realized a fatal flaw as to keeping anyone from knowing their bloody little secret – Henry's front door wasn't locked. Not with chains and padlocks, and not with a simple house-key. And both of them were clearly too embroiled in the odd, almost sibling-style argument they'd been embroiled in to notice that Eileen had wandered in on her own.

"_Aah_..!" Was the only sound Eileen made as she pointed to Walter, causing both of them to look at her. Despite the gape of horror she was making (an expression echoed by Henry, who was mortified that his secret was out), Walter just grinned a thousand times brighter.

"**_Mom_**!" He shouted a second time, throwing out his arms as he walked forward, going to embrace his mom. Eileen stared at him in horror, seeming to start to back up in terror, before her bright, green eyes rolled up into the back of her head, and she fainted falling to the floor. Walter blinked, paused in mid-step, watching Eileen. He turned to Henry, letting his arms go to his sides, confused. "What's wrong with mom?"

Henry mumbled to himself lifting one hand to slap over his eyes.

"Walter?"

"Yes?"

"We," Henry started, before sighing, and then taking a deep breath, "Are going to take your mom into her apartment, and drop her off. Is my shower using water, now?"

A slight pause, as he thought the answer over. "Yes."

"Good," He nodded, looking up at Walter as he continued, pointing to himself. "I'm gonna take a shower, and then take her over to her apartment, and explain…all of this to her." With a disturbingly ecstatic grin, Walter hopped slightly on his toes.

"Do I get to talk to her, too?"

Henry winced. It was unavoidable at this point, and he needed to let Eileen know that Walter, while a bit more dangerous than most, was almost like a puppy, now. _A rabid puppy_, he thought to himself. "Look, you just get cleaned up and make yourself look...not…insane. I'll bring her over to, er…" Henry shook his head, unable to believe that he was saying this. "…to meet you." Walter's grin brightened even more, as he nodded, before hopping up to sit on the kitchen counter.

"'Kay! I'll wait!" With that, the unpredictable Mr. Sullivan sat perfectly still, still smiling. Henry, slightly numb, went to go take his shower, wondering how in hell he was ever going to explain this to ANYONE.

* * *

**Post (mortem) thoughts:** Sorry this took so long. School restarted, my dog died, Finals happened, and so did two projects. I noted that we seem to have a Walter fan-girl reading this (and hell, we sort of have one writing it, don't we?), so there you have it – Walter in boxers.

And, has anyone ever seen Return to Oz, the Disney sequel to Wizard of Oz? There's this ADORABLE Pumpkin-headed character named Jack, and he ask Dorothy if she's his mom, since she sprinkles him with life powder and revives him. It's great because it's a sequel to the truer, more grotesque REAL Wizard of Oz, and if I remember, Jack sounds a bit like Walter, with that really cool deeper voice, and the search for mom. It's a really cute movie, and I watched it again recently, and it's still pretty damn good! Uh, that's it. R&R…which for me, means rest and relax…


	6. Explanations

**Silent Hill 4: The Roommates**

**A/N: Meh. Written on several bouts of insomnia. And on one Friday a few minutes before work.**

**Part 6: Explanations**

**

* * *

**

Feeling much refreshed after his devoid-of-blood shower, finding out that Eileen had stayed passed out for the past 7 minutes, and changing into some more comfortable and unsoiled clothes, Henry sighed, as he picked up Eileen, carrying her as carefully as he could, as he looked over to Walter, who was watching his – or most likely, the slumbering Eileen's – every motion; even the slight flutter of her eyes from under her eyelids, with a small smile. It was strangely sort of sweet…just REALLY creepy.

"So, um, when you're done with your shower and everything, or whatever it is...dead people do when they need to clean up, just knock on her door, okay?" Henry looked at Walter, who blinked, slowly, as he looked up, before smiling and nodding.

"Just like when I came to her house the first time!" Walter quipped. Henry groaned, but quickly forced a chuckle to cover it up, and nodded, as he walked out the door, making sure Walter followed him, to help open Eileen's door. He just really hoped that if it was locked, Walter could just take an evil-looking key out of his pocket or something and open it. One of Frank's visits would be very inopportune at this moment, as Henry wasn't sure if he could explain why he was carrying a passed-out Eileen Galvin to her apartment, with some weird guy covered in blood and dressed only in boxers, socks and a long-sleeve black shirt.

Making his way through the front door of room 301, Henry nodded at Walter over his shoulder, who returned the nod, before slowly shutting the door. He could hear him as he walked off, before there was a squeak, most likely one of Walter's sock-clad feet as it skidded across the floor, and a loud thump. Henry winced, before listening carefully to the shuffling sound outside, followed up by a shout of "I'm okay!"

Henry shook his head as he carried Eileen over to her sofa, laying her down gently, breathing a sigh of relief as she slowly started to wake up. Backing up to sit down on her lounge chair across the room from her, Henry folded his hands, and waited for her to fully come to. She sat up and mumbled harshly, rubbing the back of her head in a daze, as she looked around, her eyes still shrugging off the filmy haze of her prior unconsciousness. Suddenly, her eyes widened, as she let out a whimper, looking around the room, almost as if she had seen a ghost. Henry sighed inwardly. One, yeah, she's seen plenty of ghosts and she'd just seen Walter, who he'd killed. Two, he winced, as he had a strange sort of déjà vu back to when he saw her on the hospital bed in Saint Jerome's when she woke up and started crying. Thinking of anything from then really gave Henry a headache, though…he'd started hoarding Advil like ammunition when he'd gone through Walter's many layers of hell. But anyway, Eileen. She finally looked over at Henry, still a bit shocked. Frowning, she continued to rub the bump on the back of her head, as she mumbled out a word or two.

"Henry…was I…was I dreaming?" She glanced towards her door nervously, her spare arm hugging around her knees, "I…I thought I saw…" Henry took a deep breath as the tension in the nervous silence built up, Miss Galvin slowly turning her eyes towards his. He waited until their eyes aligned, to attempt a smile – one that he just knew turned out grim – trying to think of the most comforting way to tell her that the man who almost killed her with his bare hands and that Henry himself had killed with rusty axe was alive, supposedly well, and living in his apartment with him. The smile faded away immediately, as Henry realized he was totally unable to say this and smile at Eileen, whether it was reassuring or otherwise.

"Walter." Henry said calmly, feeling a pang run through down his spine as Eileen's eyes widened in horror, before she glared, reaching down for the purse that sat on her coffee table.

"That lousy, psychopathic son of a…oooh!" Henry blinked, as the suddenly driven Eileen sprung from her seat, giving Henry a very meaningful look, one burning with intensity, before she started to strut to the door. "That's it, Henry, let's get him out of there once and for all!"

"Eileen, wait, I didn't…" Was all Henry managed to get out, before Eileen stormed towards the door, pulling it open, semi-lethal purse in hand as she made her way into the hall. Not a moment later, Henry was up and making his way to her door, which she had pushed shut behind her. He started to try and open the door back up, only to let out a despaired gasp, as he heard his own door get slammed open. Making his way into the hall. "This is NOT the way I planned it…" Henry mumbled to himself, as he looked for Eileen, only to glimpse a woman's leg disappearing into his door – as in, Eileen stepped inside, Walter isn't already wailing away on people with a chainsaw. Heh. That would be neat, though. The door slowly began to slide shut, as Henry jogged over and caught it, throwing it back open before entering room 302 and making sure he pulled the door shut and – this time – locked it, in case there were any more inopportune visitors. He was just able to take a few quick strides to catch up to Eileen, who was carefully surveying his apartment for signs of the devil, beginning to head down the hall. Oh, jeez, was all Henry was able to think to himself as he noted that the water to his shower sounded like it just stopped running.

"Look, Eileen, it's okay…" He started, trying to speak over the 'Are you INSANE?' look she gave him, "He's not really…well…it's, erm…" Eileen reached over, putting one hand over Henry's on her forearm, which he'd used to catch her, before shaking her head.

"No, Henry…you were there for me, and we're really going to make it through this together this time, okay?" She raised her eyebrows, causing her eyes to widen a bit, the softness of her expression like that of someone assuring a smaller child that it would be all right. Henry blinked, rather blank of mind, as he looked into her glittery green eyes, stuttering a bit, before finally stammering out an "okay," before he could remember what they were talking about. She's just so beautiful, he also managed to point out to himself, before her attention (but not his, unfortunately for a certain someone reentering the scene) turned to the opening bathroom door.

Walter was innocently whistling to himself, still running a blue-grey towel over his long, slightly wavy locks of silvery blonde hair, already decked out in his navy blue jacket, a pair of black shoes and a khaki-colored pair of pants. Turning to walk down the hall, he'd just pulled the towel off of his head, shaking out his hair and tossing it back, before blinking, almost face to face with the woman he's sort of dubbed his new mommy. Standing up straighter, he beamed down at her, ready to seemingly reel off a thousand merry words.

"Hi, muh-" would be as far as he got before Eileen let out an enraged cry and started to whack him upside the head with her purse. Walter yelped like a shocked puppy, before putting up his arms to shield himself from the blows, flinching back down the hall always. Henry sighed, before taking a few steps forward to try and grab one of Eileen's flailing wrists, only to be clubbed in the jaw with the back-swing of her purse.

It was then that Henry would never mock any of the monsters killed by that purse ever again, as he let out a severe grunt as he staggered back, holding his jaw. Wide-eyed and too blank of mind to think of anything to do other than clutch at his stinging face, he looked back over to see if Walter was doing any better. Granted, it wasn't easy to see around the purse-slinging spitfire, but he could make out the figure of his roommate as he retreated back another step. Henry considered letting this go on until Eileen got tired, but then remembered that, well…to ONE of the people here, this was tantamount to child abuse and could lead to even more mental scarring. To ANOTHER person in the room, they would probably just think that this would deserve that ONE person right. But, Henry digressed; this needed to stop, plain and simple.

"Eileen! Eileen! Cut it out!" Henry managed to speak clearly, despite the tingling of the soon-to-be-numb corner of his mouth where the purse smacked hip, this time going in a bit lower, hugging her around the waist, and starting to pull her back. She let out a small yelp as she fumbled with the purse, and, with a cat-fight-style growl, she lifted one of her Converse-clad feet, taking advantage of the raised elevation to kick Walter right in the face. Cursing rather loudly, Walter stumbled back, reaching up to clutch his nose, blinking a few times, as Henry pulled Eileen back into his living room, slowly letting her feet touch for floor again.

"Eileen," Henry started, taking a deep breathe, before looking at her, and then nodding to Walter, "This is…um…my roommate." Eileen blanched, as she stared at Walter, who was still rubbing his nose, as he slowly tiptoed – in Eileen's mind, stalked – out of the hall. Henry cleared his throat as he continued. "He's just sort um, you know, how I was having trouble with my rent? Walter's sort of helping me out." The young Miss Galvin narrowed her eyes, weakly attempting to pry herself out of Henry's grip once more, before turning back to Henry, back to Walter, and then struggling a bit more.

"Oh, God…this is South Ashfield Heights, not Melrose Place…" Eileen's shout was a bit more directed at Henry, now. "Couldn't you find someone that hadn't tried to kill everyone?!" Seeming a tad bit offended, Walter let out a huff, crossing his arms and looking away; despite his haughtiness, he was clearly offended. I mean, imagine if YOUR mom was doing this to you. Henry sighed as he watched Walter for a moment, before letting go of Eileen, keeping one hand on her shoulder just in case of another assault on his roommate.

"Well…I…could have…but no one really came forward…" Henry gestured to Walter, speaking about him as nicely as he knew how, "And, you know, he's pretty handy around the house, and, um, isn't a bad person once…he's not, you know. Murdering." Swallowing to get rid of the dryness in his throat, Henry then cleared it as well, finally taking his hand back. He noticed that Eileen was still stand-offish, as she walked to the back of his apartment, leaving Walter to stand closer to the front door. Stepping closer to Eileen, Henry leaned down, whispering. "He thinks you're his mom, you know…didn't you feel bad for him before?" Henry lowered his tone to a somewhat angrier tone – it wasn't like Walter hadn't tried to kill him, too! "He really doesn't want to hurt you…"

Eileen sighed, looking up at Walter with a slight frown. He was still turned away, tapping one foot slightly. That simple frown turned into a glare, as she eyed Henry, not bothering to keep her tone at a polite whisper like Henry.

"I felt sorry for the five-year-old…not the maniac who near beat me to death."

"Well, Eileen," Henry started, also not bothering to whisper at this point, "A five-year-old isn't going to help pay the bills on the apartment, now, is he?!" Realizing at once that he snapped, his shoulders slouched, and he raised both hands defensively. "Look, all I mean is, er, well…"

"No, you know what, Henry?" Eileen started, as she walked towards the door, looking over her shoulder to continue arguing, "You can go ahead and keep your walking Psyche ward here, becahh!"

Henry was looking down at the floor, but frowned – "becahh"? That was a weird word…it didn't take him TOO long to figure out that was actually a scream, as he looked over at where she'd headed. She had gotten too close to Walter, who had lifted her up off her feet, slightly, in a tight bear-hug. One of Eileen's arms was pushing futilely at Walter's opposite shoulders, as her face was stuck over his other one, just as his chin was resting down over her shoulder, facing Henry. Walter's eyes were locked on the floor, somewhat, as he hugged Eileen a bit tighter.

"I'm sorry."

Henry bit back a small chuckle as he noticed Eileen's near imperceptible sigh, and extremely slight pat on Walter's back. When he finally let go of her, she stumbled oddly around him, looking to Henry – who immediately sobered his expression – with a confused frown. She huffed a little, as she began to make her way out the front door. She looked at Walter once, quickly, before looking back at Henry.

"I'll…talk to you later about this. I think I'm gonna call a psychiatrist, now, though."

With that, she left, shutting the door sharply behind her. Walter blinked at the door for a bit, before looking back to Henry. Looking up from where he'd been staring at the floor, Henry took a deep breath, before reaching up to rub his temples a little.

"Well," Henry sighed, "I think that went over a lot better than it could have…"

* * *

**Post Mortem:** Ah...fairly obvious that this chapter was sort of rushed and not well-thought-through. I'm to the point where I've ran out of ideas. So…while I appreciate all the 3 and support, I could really use some creative input. I may have about a month or so's worth of time pass by in the story, and have some chapters detailing life outside of South Ashfield Heights for Walter and Henry, but I can't think of what. So, if you have a good idea and can get it to me, I'll see if I can write it in and I'll give you credit. Because I – as I said – am spent. 


	7. Life Goes On

**Silent Hill 4: The Roommates**

**A/N: **It's been a long damn time, but I'm gonna take a stab at continuing this story, now. . ; I hope it's not too little too late…

Part 7: Life Goes On…

* * *

After the initial awkwardness, Henry was almost certain that there would be even more terrible quirks about living with Walter. It would have been hard to write them off as more severe than anything he did when he first got involved with the 21 Sacraments, but there are many things he could think of that were more grating from the point of view of having a roommate. 

Things like…what if he's completely annoying, and snores so loud it penetrates each wall? How do I know he's not using my razor without asking me? What if I have to find out he's using my razor because he doesn't rinse it? Does he do that thing where you squeeze the toothpaste tube from the middle? Is every day a constant war over who gets the TV remote?

Shockingly, Walter proved to be a better roommate in the respect of the aforementioned questions than Henry ever had in college. When they did watch TV (both of them preferred reading mostly, so he also wasn't loud and obnoxious) they both seemed to agree on whatever was on. Henry always expected him to be messy, too, but he kept the house neat, and entertained an odd fondness for cooking – it wasn't really that he cooked a lot of things, but he was better at it than Henry and was always glad to do so. Walter still had plenty of quirks, but Henry really couldn't find a way to make them seem any worse than his own habits of hoarding headache medicine, candles, health drinks, reading random scraps of paper he finds lying around, and his fears of public bathrooms, mannequins and Swiss cheese (it's the holes!).

Walter also understood Henry's changing the laundry room into a dark room for his photography. Trying to repair the laundry and dryer was going to be really pricey, so they had opted to just use the Laundromat a block or two away, for now. The dark room was where Henry spent a lot of his time in the afternoon, trying to develop his film rolls – it wasn't always easy finding work, but he was doing better and better as the months rolled on. He couldn't believe that he'd survived multiple months living with Walter…or that Eileen was still their neighbor (not of her own volition – she thought it somewhat rude to bring it up to the two of them in conversation, she'd been trying to hunt down a new apartment on the other side of town, or further away in Brahms).

Speaking of Walter, Henry cast a quick glance over his shoulder as he heard a jingle of keys scraping the front door, and then a strange sort of bustling. Narrowing his eyes, Henry finished clipping up one of the developed pictures before turning towards the door, leaning against it as he could hear the crinkling of paper and a now-clear…conversation?

"Thank you for the help," Henry could recognize Walter's voice first, "Most of the people here can be so withdrawn."

"Oh, well," He was somewhat surprised at the second voice – it sounded so much like Eileen, but she still was so wary of Walter, "I've kinda had enough of trying to avoid people." Her voice ended on such a melancholy tone, but he could hear her mumble something, perhaps to herself, before the girl talking to Walter continued, cheerily. "But I'm in a new place, and I really like these apartments!"

Cautiously pushing the door open, Henry slowly strode out, slouching guiltily as the girl in the kitchen – she seemed to have been helping Walter carry up groceries – jumped at the suddenness of his entrance, before quickly laughing to herself, though it seemed to be a failed attempt to cover up how nervous she seemed, reaching up to brush her shaggy blonde locks – which faded gradually to brown and then black as it grew closer to her roots – out of the way of her eyes. She had traces of freckles on her cheeks and across her nose, making her seem even younger than she probably was. Henry returned the smile, looking to Walter as he stepped out of the kitchen.

"Ah, Henry, sorry…I didn't want to interrupt you working. She was just helping me carry in groceries, this is Alyss - "

The pause that ensued almost seemed to ripple space around them. Henry noticed both blondes – both natural and unnatural – share a blanched look. Looking at each other, confused, Henry cleared his throat, offering his hand to the girl to shake her hand.

"It's okay…did he say Alice?" Henry leaned down, trying to get a better look at her face, furrowing his brow in concern when he saw that she seemed very shaken. Walter quickly interjected, drawing Henry's attention away from the girl; he was smiling, the nature of it one part embarrassment, and the other half completely alien.

"No…I'm sorry. She," Walter tugged at the sleeve of his jacket, "She didn't tell me her name."

"Cheryl." The girl said it almost defiantly, before seeming to catch herself, returning Walter's unreadable smile. Turning slightly, she shook Henry's hand, her lips curling with more enthusiasm, the smile much warmer. "My name's Cheryl…my dad and I just moved into apartment 207."

Unnoticeably to Cheryl, both men's posture straightened, as she tried once again to brush some of her dirty blonde locks out of her eyes, their exchange of knowing, nervous glances imperceptible. They both forced grins back onto their faces as they looked back, Henry struggling to fight the guilt in his mind.

"That's great! Um," He fidgeted, perhaps even more apparently, as he gathered from Cheryl's vigil of his face, "That's a nice one…apartment."

"Yeah," Cheryl backed up towards the open front door, smiling like she was holding back a slight giggle, still keeping a close watch on his eyes, "Well…I should probably get going, or dad'll wonder where I got off to." Turning around as she waved, she glanced to Walter but for a moment, expression worrisome once more, before her enthusiastic smile returned to Henry. "Nice meeting you!"

"You, too," Henry smiled out the front door, waving to her down the hall, "Take care…!"

Cheryl, AKA Heather AKA Alyssa, found herself staring at the door from the far side of the hall, just before the turn to go towards the stairwell, for a long time.

'Talk about your odd couples,' she thought to herself, wholly unsure of what thoughts to take away from the conversation. The blonde man seemed so nice; but he knew her name. Her REAL name. This made her understandably nervous – it was almost never a good thing when a mysterious long-haired blonde knew her 'true self'…for the sake of his roommate though, she was very prepared to try and let it slide. He was CUTE, for an older guy.

Henry.

Cheryl smiled inwardly, a profound skip to her step as she quickly spun around the corner…

…causing a twin shriek to sound, as a flurry of papers and envelopes slowly glided down to the floor to join Eileen and Cheryl as they threw each other off balance, choruses of "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" filling the hall.

* * *

**Post Mortem:** I have no intentions of hooking up Cheryl and Henry. I was just replaying SH3 and really wanted to add her in…who knows, maybe I can add in some more SH residents. This is really another pathetically quick chapter…but I've been writing a lot of non-fan-fiction lately, so I am hoping to slowly get an interest in this story again. No promises...but the best I can do, and SHOULD do, really, is try. 


End file.
